GnR covers

[1987]

Does anyone know the story behind the GnR version of Smells like teen spirit?  was it a joke, or an intro, or did they really play the whole song.  iwas also wondering how much of stairway was played?  this was a pretty interesting list  from another board


http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=44905



Addams Family Theme () [3 times - Augusta, ME '93/Iowa City, IA '93/Winnipeg, Canada '93]
Attitude (Misfits) [Regularly - first performed Worcester, MA 12/5/91]
Ain't Talkin Bout Love (Van Halen) [Seattle, WA 6/1/1988]
All Right Now (Free) [Auckland, New Zealand 2/6/1993 ]
Bad To The Bone (George Thorogood) [Hollywood, CA 2/28/1986]
Bad Time (Grand Funk Railroad) [Regularly - first performed Costa Mesa, CA 9/14/1988]
Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf) [New York, NY 1/31/1988]
Beethoven () [Stuttgart, Germany 5/28/1992]
Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones) [Several times as part of 'Wild Horses']
Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin) [Modena, Italy 6/29/1993]
Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent) [Mountain View, CA 6/5/1988]
Cherub Rock (Smashing Pumpkins) [Buenos Aires, Argentina 7/17/1993]
Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin) [Several times as part of 'Double Talkin' Jive']
Drift Away (Dobie Gray) [Irving,TX 9/17/1988 ]
Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones) [Regularly - first performed Milton Keynes, England 5/30/1993]
Down On The Farm (UK Subs) [Indianapolis, IN 4/7/1990]
Dust In The Wind (Todd Rundgren) [Regualrly - first performed Frankfurt, Germany 6/25/1993]
Everything (Eric Carmen) [Sydney, Australia 1/30/1993]
Fallen Angel (Nazareth) [Orchard Park, NY 7/25/1992]
Green Acres Theme () [Phoenix, AZ 7/10/1988]
Godfather Theme () [Regularly - first performed Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 1/20/1991]
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Beatles) [Tokyo '93/Sydney '93/Melbourne '93]
Hair Of The Dog (Nazareth) [Winnipeg, Canada 5/23/1988]
Hotel California (The Eagles) [3 times - Dayton, OH '92/San Diego, CA '92/Chandler, AZ '92]
Heartbreak Hotel (Elvis) [3 times - Hollywood CA, 1/18/1986, 03/28/1986 & 07/11/1986]
Happy Birthday To You () [San Francisco, CA 5/9/1991]
I Was Only Joking (Rod Stewart) [Regularly - first recording Costa Mesa, CA 9/14/1988]
It's Alright (Black Sabbath) [Regualrly - first performed Dublin, Ireland 5/16/1992]
I Want You [She's So Heavy] (Beatles) [Melbourne, Australia 1/2/1993]
Imagine (John Lennon) [Several times as part of 'Patience' during 1993]
Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) [Modena, Italy 6/30/1993]
In My Time Of Dying (Led Zeppelin) [Several times as intro to 'Bad Obsession']
Jumpin' Jack Flash (Rolling Stones) [4 times - Hollywood CA ??/??/1986, 1/18/1986, 2/28/1986 & 7/11/1986]
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan) [Regularly - first performed London, England 6/19/1987]
Let It Be (The Beatles) [Buenos Aires, Argentina 7/17/1993]
Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney) [Regulary - first performed San Francisco, CA 5/9/1991]
Living Lovin' Maid (Led Zeppelin) [New York, NY 1/31/1988]
Love Rollercoaster (Ohio Players) [New York, NY 1/31/1988]
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles) [Regularly - first performed Pontaic, MI 7/21/1992]
Mama Kin (Aerosmith) [Regularly - first recording Hollywood, CA 1/18/1986]
Mongoloid (Devo) [Hartford, CT 3/9/1993]
Mother (Pink Floyd) [Regularly - first performed Tokyo, Japan 12/4/1988]
Marseilles (The Angels) [Irvine, CA 6/9/1988]
Merry-Go-Round Broke Down [Looney Tunes Theme] () [New York, NY 2/2/1988]
Nice Boys (Rose Tattoo) [Regularly - first recording Hollywood, CA 1/18/1986]
Not Fade Away (Buddy Holly/Rolling Stones) [New York, NY 1/31/1988]
Only Women Bleed (Alice Cooper) [Regularly - first performed Phoenix, AZ 2/12/1988]
One (U2) [Dublin, Ireland 5/16/1992]
Oh Well (Fleetwood Mac) [Several times as part of 'Double Talkin' Jive' in '93]
Over The Hills And Far Away (Led Zeppelin) [Several times as part of 'Patience' in '93]
Oklahoma! (Musical) [Oklahoma City, OK 4/6/1992]
Pinball Wizard (The Who) [Several times as part of 'Patience' in '93]
Playground Taunt () [Several times between 87' and '93]
Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash) [Boston, MA 3/17/1993]
Roadhouse Blues (The Doors) [Buenos Aires, Argentina 7/16/1993]
Rock And Roll (Led Zeppelin) [New York, NY 1/31/1988]
Satisfaction (Rolling Stones) [Hollywood, CA 7/11/1986]
Sail Away Sweet Sister (Queen) [Regularly - first performed London, England 8/31/1991]
Since I Don't Have You (Skyliners) [Regularly - first performed Gateshead, England 6/16/1992]
Shangri-La (ELO) [Biloxi, MI 1/4/1992]
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana) [Toronto, Canada 9/13/1992]
Slayer Impression () [Melbourne, Australia 12/15/1988]
Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin) [2 times - Mountain View, CA 1988/Wuerzurg, Germany 1992]
Tomohawk Chop Chant () [Kansas City, MO 9/17/1992]
Train Kept A Rollin' (Yardbirds/Aerosmith) [Several times as part of 'Double Talkin' Jive' in '93]
Tavaszi Sz?l Vizet Araszt (Hungarian Folk Song) [Budapest, Hungary 5/22/1992]
The Black Widow (Alice Cooper) [Copenhagen, Denmark 8/19/1991]
The One (Elton John) [Regularly - first performed East Rutherford, NJ 7/18/1992]
Up Around The Bend (Creedence Clearwater Revival) [Munich, Germany 6/26/1993]
Unknown Theme () [Buenos Aires, Argentina 7/17/1993]
Voodoo Chile (Jimi Hendrix) [Several times as intro/outro to 'Civil War']
Walk This Way (Aerosmith) [Pasadena, CA 12/26/1987]
We Want The Funk () [Cologne, Germany 6/19/1993]
Wild Horses (Rolling Stones) [Regularly - first performed Worcester, MA 12/5/91]
We're An American Band (Grand Funk Railroad) [Hollywood, CA 1985]
Whole Lotta Rosie (AC/DC) [5 times - London 6.28.87 & 10.8.87/Newcastle '87/Allentown, PA '87/NY 1.31.88]
You Shook Me (Led Zeppelin/Willie Dixon) [New York, NY 1/31/1988]
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie) [Munich, Germany 6/26/1993]

[LeftToDecay]

pretty impressive someone has bothered to go through all the research that list must have required! Very h?ndy thing  to have.
Would be great if it mentioned which covers were full, complete songs with entire band or entire band minus Axl and which were just small parts of the song during a jam by Slash, Izzy or Gilby etc.
..:Surely they never played full version of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust? Or did they?

Actually, does anyone know more of GNR covering these:

Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Hotel California
Stairway To Heaven
Ziggy Stardust
Ring of fire

Anyone know if any of those is  a  semi-coherrent,  full instrumental or even full song with Axl or Izzy on vocals?

[elmir]

there was also "Light my fire" by the Doors in Greece, 2006....not a full song, more like a band jam in between songs, but it was good nonetheless....

[kaasupoltin]

Smells Like Teen Spirit is probably from the Metallica-tour 1992 when Axl burned Nirvana-cap while Duff and Matt were jamming to the intro.

[1987]

ring of fire is also interesting.  does anyone know how much of the song they played?

[Jay Tea]

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

that appears on the second Gilby Clarke solo record (after being fire from GNR). Teddy Zig Zag  plays on it (as i recall) but no other gnr members.

[don_vercetti]

Virtually all of those are incomplete, for instance Stairway To Heaven is just like slash or duff teasing the crowds, and he just plays the first ten notes or so.  I think most of those are just intro's,/outros or jams,  or just riffs they played during down time (i.e. whenever axl was having a tantrum) aside form the obvious ones.

Interestingly, they did play You Shook Me and Rock & Roll in full once, at the same show.  But it was with a roadie singing, and the quality of the recording is utterly dire.  Livin Lovin' Maid was also the same show, also a terrible recording.  By terrible, I mean it's mainly just white noise.  And from what you can hear, they sound like pretty bad covers. 

[SINSHINE]

Though it's hard to tell with just a drum beat and some basic rythym on guitars/bass...I think you can add Metallica's 'Sanitarium' to that list of partials. The extended live intro to 'Double Talkin' Jive' uses the middle section of that song (just before the 'fear of living on...' part). At least that's what I hear 

[jarmo]

Axl has sung snippets from several songs on the last tours.


It's always amusing trying to figure out what song it was.

Examples:

Like in Birmingham 2006 he sang part of Rockaria by the Electric Light Orchestra. I didn't know it until I Googled the lyrics. 

In Nagoya 2007 he sang "I hear that train comin', it's comin' round the bend". Which basically is from Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. 




/jarmo

[CheapJon]

at roskilde 2006 before you could be mine he sang a snippet of "put on a happy face" with slightly different lyrics

[burnz007]

Are most of these covers just snippets?  Just Slash playing a little bit of the song... or does Axl sing on most of these?  Does he sing Pink Floyd's Mother or Bowie's Ziggy Stardust?

[jarmo]

Does he sing Pink Floyd's Mother

It was used as an intro to Paradise City with him singing a few lines.



/jarmo

[CheapJon]

Does he sing Pink Floyd's Mother or Bowie's Ziggy Stardust?

ziggy stardust was just a piano cover of dizzy i think before the blues, like he played some abba song when they were in stockholm 2006

[burnz007]

Does he sing Pink Floyd's Mother or Bowie's Ziggy Stardust?

ziggy stardust was just a piano cover of dizzy i think before the blues, like he played some abba song when they were in stockholm 2006

I know Slash also played the Ziggy Stardust riff in the middle of some GNR song... if I remember I think it was KOHD.